At least 200 killed in airstrikes in northeast Nigeria

Dozens of people died in airstrikes in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe state as military aircraft hunted Boko Haram jihadists, local residents and Amnesty International said on Sunday.

The airstrikes occurred on Saturday, and the death tolls differed according to the sources.

Amnesty International said on X there were "more than 100 dead" and 35 people seriously wounded, while a local chief spoke of "200 dead and wounded". Nigeria's military did not immediately respond to a query from AFP.

Africa's most populous country has been fighting a jihadist insurgency for 17 years, since Boko Haram's 2009 uprising, which has seen the emergence of powerful splinter groups including Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

While the insurgency is concentrated in the northeastern countryside, jihadists from Nigeria and the neighbouring Sahel have made inroads in western Nigeria, where organised crime gangs known as "bandits" have been raiding villages and extorting farmers and artisanal miners for years.